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0^WE6e+C0npY-fFIFTY4YE7IR^^^60. 



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; ADDRESS DELIVERED BY 

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i 



i BEFORE THE ' [ 

t Old Settlers" :^ssocmTioj^\ \ 

AT MB^I€30t 






1880: 

MORRILL BROS., PRINTERS. 
FULTON N. Y. 



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03WE60^C0apY^EIFTY^YEH^g^;?G0. 



ADDRESS DELIVERED BY 

BEFORE THE 

Old Settlers^ :^.ssoci.iiTioj\\ 






1880; 

MORRILL BROS., PRINTERS, 
FULTON, N. V. 



•"IS.? 



At the annual meeting of the Old Settlers* Association, held at Mexico 
August 2ist, 1879 ; on motion of Hiram Walker Esq., seconded by 
B. B. Burt Esq., it was resolved that the address of the Hon. R. H. 
Tyler be published. F. W. SQUIRES, Sec'y. 



2-0 



fifWBi^o Coiintf IMtf Tears A 5% 



Fellow Citizens : 

I am not invited to address an association upon this occasion or- 
ganized for the purpose of promoting an enterprise of a specific nature 
— commercial, literary or scientific ; but rather to speak to a gathering 
of the early settlers of this county, assembled for social intercourse and 
re-union. I propose, therefore to occupy the half hour alloted me by 
your committee in speaking of Oswego' County as it Avas fifty years ago. 

"Oswego County Fifty Years Ago." A hundred years to a new 
world's man seems as a thousand to a European. The centennial of a 
church, the setting off of a town, or of some significant historical epi- 
sode, in this country, is suggestive of antiquity, and there are portions 
of the land only where such celebrations can be observed, and a half 
century in the county of Oswego covers a larger space in our history, 
than a Millennium does in the older countries east of the Atlantic. — In 
fact, a retrospect of fifty years in our county reaches back into the long 
ago, and develops conditions quite different from the present. 

A half century ago this county had existed as an independent po- 
litical body, but thirteen years, it having been set off from Oneida and 
Onondaga Counties in 1816. The geographical limits of the county at 
that time, were the same as now, although its internal divisions have 
been considerably changed. The towns then constituting the county 
were Granby, Hannibal and Oswego on the west side of the Oswego 
river, Volney, Scriba, New Haven, Mexico, Parish, Hastings, Constantia, 
Williamstown, Albion, Richland, Sandy Creek, Boylston, Orwell and 
Redfield, on the east side of the river. There was but one incorporated 
village in the county at that time, and that was the village of Oswego, 
organized from adjacant parts of Oswego and Scriba, by an act of the 
Legislature, passed in 1S28. The population of the county fifty years ago 
was about 27,000, thinly settled and in a country princijjally new. For- 
est lands predominated largely over those which were cultivated, and 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

one of the most important thoroughfares in the county, traversed an 
unbroken wilderness of eight miles in extent, called the "Eight Mile 
Woods." There were other localities in the county nearly as large 
without an oasis or a clearing. Cows and cattle would stray away, and 
men and women in pursuit would get lost, and the neighbors would 
be obliged to turn out with tin horns and other instruments of din to 
rescue them. — Bears and wolves were occasional visitors in some por- 
tions of the county, and deer, foxes, and other choice game were abun- 
dant. I recall an instance when an old bear was found marauding in 
the open fields and roads in the vicinity of my father's residence in 
New Haven. The event caused considerable excitement and chase 
was made for the bear, but he escaped without being captured. 

Fifty years ago the dwellings of the inhabitants were exceedingly 
rude and inexpensive. The majority of them were constructed of logs 
with the interstices filled in with clay mud, and the roofs were made of 
boards battened with slabs ; the chimneys were built of sticks stuccoed 
with mud, and were so large that a person could stand in the corner, 
and, looking up, observe the moon and the stars of a clear night with- 
out obstruction. The farmers, especially, as a rule occupied log houses 
and the few frame houses in the little hamlets were very plain in ap- 
pearance, and usually but a story or story and a half high. Scarcelv a 
brick or a stone residence could be seen in the entire county : but 
there were log dwellings, log barns, log taverns, log stores, log school 
houses and log vbuildings for all purposes. A half century ago there 
were not to exceed a half dozen church edifices in the county, and 
those were small and uncomfortable. They had no suitable apparatus 
for warming, and in the winter the worshippers often suffered severely 
with the cold. The old ladies had foot stoves filled with burning char- 
coal which kept their feet hot, while their bodies shivered with the 
cold, and the men and young folks were obliged to sit through a long 
service with the mercury at 30 Farenheit. There was not at that 
period a solitary church bell to be found in the entire county. 

A church raising in those days was an event of extraordinary dis- 
tinction, and to be invited to give a lift was regarded as a great honor. 
The invitations were usually limited to the men who had contributed 
to the funds of the enterprise, with an occasional exception in favor of 
an old sailor to go aloft. 

Fifty years ago a horse or a horse team was a rarity in the county of 
Oswego. The farmers, as a rule, did their team work with oxen, and 
the vehicle for moving their produce and the like was an ox sled. In 
the winter this rig was used for visiting among the inhabitants, taking 
the children to school, through the deep snows, and carrying the 
family to the sanctuary upon the Sabbath. By placing bundles of 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

bright, clean straw upon the sled for seats, the carriage was considered 
quite easy and comfortable. In well to do neighborhoods, however, 
one farmer would own a horse which was used by all the neighbors to 
plow between the rows of corn, and carry their "grists" to mill; and oc- 
casionally the o^ner of the horse would have a one horse wagon with 
wooden springs for use in summer, and a "jumper" made of black ash 
poles for runners and thills, with an old crockery crate for a box, for 
use in winter. Not a carriage with steel springs or calash top was 
owned in the county, except that occasionally the domine or the doctor 
might have a chaise — or as it was then written, a "shay" for personal 
or family use. 

A half century ago the postal facilities in the county of Oswego were 
quite meager. — There were only a few post offices, and very little 
business was done through them. The roads were poor, and there 
were not to exceed three routes through the county over which a daily 
mail was carried. One of these was from Oswego to Utica, another 
from Syracuse through Central Square and Pulaski to Watertown, and 
the other from Oswego through Fulton to Syracuse. The mails on the 
two former of these routes were carried in four horse post coaches, and 
as they passed along and stopped at the larger towns, they produced 
activity and animation far above what may be seen in the same towns 
at the present time. The Oswego Canal had then just been completed 
and a line of packet boats was placed upon it which afforded mail and 
passenger facilities over the latter route of an especially high order 
during the season of canal navigation. In addition, the steamer On- 
tario touched at Oswego on her trips up and down the lake once a week 
each way during lake navigation, which was considered a wonderful 
thing for the denizens of that village, particularly those having business 
with Canada and the west. In other parts of the county remote from 
these routes, the people were content with a weekly mail, and in many 
places there were inhabitants with not a post office or post road within 
six or eight miles of their residences. Travel in those days was very 
much on foot, and it was common to see the pilgrim passing with 
knapsack upon his back weighing from 15 to 40 pounds, who had been 
on the road for weeks and had traversed hundreds of miles. 

A half century ago, there were in the county of Oswego but few 
churches or church members, and these were principally Baptists, 
Methodists and Presbyterians or Congregationalists, and worshipped as 
a rule, in school houses, barns, and public buildings. There was not a 
single Protestant Episcopal church in the county at that time, and no 
Catholic churches or Catholics, and not a single Universalist organiza- 
tion, and only an occasional avowed Universalist was to be met with, 
and he was a terror to the women and children, and as for the Poi^e, 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

he was undoubtedly the Beast of the Apocalypse I But the common 
school, by this time, had been established, and in due time, a marked 
change was wrought in the minds of the people in relation to hostile 
religious opinions. The more intelligent of the people soon began to 
learn and to feel that no danger was to be feared from error, so long 
as truth was free to combat it. 

There was but one Academy in the County of Oswego fifty years 
ago, and that was the one at Mexico, whose semi-centennial we ob- 
served three years ago. But a commendable spirit in respect to edu- 
cation pervaded the minds of the people, and much attention was given 
to the common school. The evening grammer and spelling schools of 
that day, when each family patronizing the day school was expected 
to furnish one tallow candle for lights, I well remember, were enjoya- 
ble and profitable. Fifty years ago there were but few merchants and 
stores in the county, and consequently i)edlers of all sorts were nu- 
merous, and the inhabitants depended much upon them for supplies. 
The pedlers generally transported their wares in a one horse carriage 
but those whose trade was limited to essences, extracts, pins, needles 
and trinkets carried their stock in a couple of tin or Japaned trunks 
suspended from the shoulders l)y a strap of broad webbing, and of 
course the business did not recjuire a large investment of capital. At 
a few of the larger places and settlements, however, like Oswego, Ful- 
ton, Hannibal, New Haven, Mexico, Pulaski and Sandy Creek, there 
were stores in which was kept a limited assortment of staple goods, hard- 
ware, groceries and liquors sufficient to supply the varied wants of the 
inhabitants. The merchants in addition to their stores, often cultiva- 
ted a parcel of land in its season, and when a customer called at the 
store for a pound of tobacco, a half pound of tea, a quart of whisky or 
some other necessary article, they would leave their work and go and 
wait upon him, and immediately return to their out of door business. 
And in most cases'the country merchant had, in connection with his 
store, an ashery, or as it was then called, a "potash," in which he worked 
up the accumulated wood ashes made in clearing up the heavy forests 
then existing, into potash for the New York and Montreal Markets. 
And still more, in all of the more populous points, the merchant had a 
distillery, or as it was then called — a "still," an^l that furnished the 
princi]>al market to the farmer for his surplus corn and rye. Fifty 
years ago there were two distilleries in the little town of New Haven, 
three or four in the town of Mexico, one, if not more in the town of 
Volney, and other towns in the ( ounty were equally favored or cursed. 
The result was that pure whisky was accessible to all, and drinking 
was prevalent. But while men were often found under the influence 
of licjuor in those days, seldom was a man found staggering drunk, and 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

it is a question whether there was as much drunkenness in the county 
according to the population as there is now, and there is not so far as 
I know, at the present time, a solitary distillery in the county. The 
fact is, they drank the pure article in those days, and the era of frauds 
and adulterated spirits had not yet dawned upon the new county. 

A half century ago the amusements afforded to break the monotony 
of pioneer life in the county of Oswego were scanty and few. — Nearly 
all that was available in this line were the old fashioned 4th of July 
celebrations, Military trainings and traveling shows. The anniversary 
of the Nation's birthday was observed with much more heart, and to a 
better purpose than is common at the present day. Only about fifty 
years had then transpired since the war for American Liberty had 
ended, and it was not a hard matter to collect together twenty or thirty 
or more of the veterans who were engaged in the battles of the Revolu- 
tion to lead the procession on such occasions. So also, from the fact 
that the spirit of the great struggle still lingered in the minds of the 
people, much interest was taken in the militia organizations of that 
period. Once every year was a "General Training" at some convenient 
point in the county, usually at Mexico, as that was near the geographic- 
al centre, at which there was always a large turn out and a gay time, 
and a long and tiresome day. About that time, \ well remember, Col. 
Palmer W. Hewitt, of New Haven, commanded the regiment, the only 
one in the county, and William Goit, of Mexico, was his adjutant. 
The regimental review was at Mexico, the day was fine and there was 
a tremendous attendance. The duties of the adjutant were conAned 
principally to forming the companies into line preparatory to the taking 
of command by the Colonel, but the adjutant in this instance managed 
to impress upon the minds of the company officers and the men under 
them, the dignity of his office, by occupying a considerable time after 
forming the regiment in various evolutions, marches and counter-march- 
es, and although the Colonel, after he took the command, gave his or- 
ders in a very loud voice, his adjutant made altogether the more noise, 
and gave the impression to us youngsters that he was the superior offi- 
cer of the two. Adjutant Goit was the respected father of my friend 
Wm. H. Goit, of Oswego, and resided at Mexico. At these trainings 
pedlers of pies, gingerbread and sweet cider were plenty, and each 
was to be seen and heard crying his goods in some corner of the fence 
temporarily appropriated for that purpose. The officers of the regi- 
ment and such others as could afford it, always partook of a dinner 
especially prepared, of which "roast pig" was invariably the leading 
dainty, and as the pig was placed upon the table apparently whole he 
was well calculated to whet the appetite of the hungry and excite the 
curiosity of the boys. Sometimes, also, an oppossum would be on ex- 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

hibition, or a pondrous bear was made to amuse the spectators with 
his clumsy antics, so that, in all, the "general training" furnished food 
for conversation and thouglit well into the current year. 

A half century ago the traveling shows of animals, wax figures and 
other curiosities at convenient points in the county, were much thought 
of and largely patronized, and they were really sources of amusement, 
not only, but of information as well. Though of diminutive magnitude, 
they were all that they pretended to be, and paid better than many of 
the loud trumpeted exhibitions of the present day. The instrumental 
music heard fifty years ago was different from what we hear now. 
Good martial music was heard at and about training time, and the vio- 
lin and tamborine with the flute were skillfully played on occasions of 
dancing and shows. Besides there were the clarionet, hautboy, and 
bugle — all wind instruments, which were occasionally used. There 
was probably at this date not a single organized band of music in the 
entire county, with the exception of one in New Haven, composed of 
a number of citizens — farmers and mechanics, under the leadership of 
Mr. Alanson Simmons, late of Fulton, now deceased, but who fifty 
years ago lived in New Haven. The instruments used were the clar- 
ionet, bassoon, hautboy, bugle, bass drum and triangle, and I thought 
they made fine music. The band usually led the procession on 4th 
of July occasions, and the column at regimental reviews and military 
parades. There were no pianos or organs in this county fifty years 
ago. Indeed there was no place in the parlor for the piano in those 
days, and there was no call for the organ in the church service, for the 
key to the tunes was invariably given by the tuning fork or pitch pipe. 

A half century ago the revivalists in religion had just commenced 
their peculiar work in the county, and w'ere regarded as objects of 
terror in some cases, and of obloquy and ridicule in others. The 
most noted of those I now call to mind were Finney and Burchard 
of Jefferson county, Kingsbury of Oneida, and Knapp of Madison, all 
of whom made a decided impression wherever they went, and many 
curious incidents were related in reference to their labors. They were 
all Presbyterians or Congregationalists excepting elder Knapp, who was 
a Baptist. I recollect that they very soon wrought a radical change in 
the work of evangelization in the county, and the effect of their teach- 
ings upon religious dogma and practice is apparent at the present day. 
They marked an epoch in the religious history of the county which was 
distinct and emphatic. 

Another notable cause of excitement in the county fifty years ago, 
was the abduction of William Morgan by the Free Masons, as was sup- 
posed. Morgan was a brick layer and stone mason, and a trifle over 
fifty years ago lived in the western part of the State, and belonged to 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 



the fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons. He was in circumstances 
of indigence, and it became rumored that he was preparing a work in 
which the obligations, secrets, signs, grips and ceremonies of the order 
were to be published. This was anything but pleasing to the Masons, 
and Morgan was soon missing, and circumstances favored the theory 
that he had been made away with by violently taking him across the 
Niagara River into Canada, and perhaps murdered. As fate would 
have it, the parties prominently mentioned in connection with the ab- 
duction were Masons, and there was a disposition to hold the order re- 
sponsible for the outrage. — Great efforts were made to bring the perpe- 
trators to justice, but they did not prove over successful. Several per- 
sons were indicted, but witnesses were got out of the way, and it was 
impossible to get such a trial as the opponents Of the Masons desired. 
Some of the persons indicted were acquitted, and in some cases the 
jurors failed to agree, and in none were the accused convicted of an 
offense above an inferior grade. This ill success was attributed to the 
influence of the Masons, who were said to be acting under the power 
of oaths to shield their members from criminal charges whether guilty 
or innocent, and a few demagogues and designing men availed them- 
selves of the excitement to build up a political party ostensibly op- 
posed to the order of Masonry, but really in opposition to the Demo- 
crats, who were in power in the State, and for a time they were so far 
successful that the parties were divided into Democrats and anti-ma- 
sons. Fifty years ago the leaven was well at work in the county of 
Oswego, and in several of the towns the anti- Masons were successful 
at the polls, and in one instance they succeeded in electing their can- 
didate for County Clerk by one majority. Gen. Jackson, who was a 
Mason had been elected President of the United States in 1828, and 
the anti-Masons were exceedingly bitter toward him and his adminis- 
tration, which continued until alter his re-election in 1832, when anew 
opposition party was formed. 

A half century ago the means of intelligence in the county as com- 
pared with the present, were exceedingly limited. Books were not nu- 
merous at best, and many families were entirely destitute, save perhaps 
the Holy Bible, and the current almanac. There were only two news- 
papers published in the county, and they were issued weekly in the 
village of Oswego. The principal of these was the Oswego Palladium, 
published by John H. Lord, at one time Post Master of the village. 
The paper was started in 1819 and has been regularly issued ever since. 
It is now issued^as a Daily and Weekly, and is one of the neatest and 
ablest of the able newspapers of the State. The present Editor-in- 
chief is Mr. A. Barry, assisted by Mr. E. B. Wells, who has charge of 
the local department, and they are both real gentlemen and understand 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

well the business of their calling. 

The other paper was the "Freeman's Herald," and published by Dr. 
Burdell. It proved unsuccessful as a business enterprise, and was dis- 
continued in the course of a year or two, and the field left to the Pal- 
ladium. — All of the excellent papers now published in the county, e.x- 
cepting the Palladium were started at a much later date. 

I have stated that the county was new and sparsely settled fifty years 
ago, with few books and limited sources of intelligence, and yet, there 
was at that time a goodly number of able and notable men residing 
within its precincts, the most of whom have long since gone to their 
eternal reward, only now and then one survives. Among those notable 
men, the mind naturally reverts in the first instance to the Honorable 
Alvin Bronson, who still lives at the good old age of 96 years. He was 
born in Waterbury, Connecticut, but came to Oswego in 1810, and en- 
gaged in the lake trade, such as it was, and he has been closely identi- 
fied with the commerce, as well as the general interests of the county 
from that time to the present. — He has, to a remarkable degree enjoyed 
the confidence of his fellow citizens, and although he never sought 
official position, he has been honored by the incumbancy of most of 
the important offices in the gift of the people. 

The late Hon. Joel Turrill was at that date a rising man, and was 
even then a man of considerable consequence. He was born in Vt., 
was a graduate of Middlebury college, and settled in Oswego in 181 9. 
He was a lawyer by profession, had served one term as District Attor- 
ney of the county, and a half century ago he was the first Judge of the 
county. He soon after became a power in the politics of the State, 
and had more or less influence in the counsels of the nation. He rep- 
resented his district in the lower house of Congress several terms, and 
was, at one time. Surrogate of the county, and for several years he was 
United States Commissioner to the Sandwich Islands, then an impor- 
tant office under Federal appointment. Though never so popular in 
the county as Mr. Bronson, he had a troop of devoted friends, especial- 
ly in the Democraiic party, to which he always belonged. He died at 
Oswego in December, 1859, at the age of 66 years. 

There lived also in Oswego fifty years ago, Rudolph Bunner, a lawyer, 
who had represented his district in Congress ; John Grant Jr. who had 
served the county as First Judge ; Theophilus S. Morgan, who had 
been County Clerk ; David P. Brewster, a young lawyer, at that time 
District Attorney, and subsequently, First Judge, and Member of Con- 
gress ; and Matthew McNair and Henry Eagle, merchants in the village 
of Oswego — all men of mark and influence, and would have been re- 
pected in any place or age. Mention also should be made of the late 
Hon. \\'illiam F. Allen, whose lamented death occurred only a brief 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

year ago. A half century ago he had just been admitted to the bar, 
and had opened an office in the village of Oswego, and though only 21 
years of age, he even then gave promise of the able lawyer and eminent 
citizen and jurist he afterwards became. It seems that at the spring 
election of the following year, 1830, in the town of Oswego, he was 
elected to the office of inspector of common schools, and within a very 
few years after he held various other important local offices until 1843 
and 1844, when he represented the county, in part, in the Legislature 
of the State two terms. In 1847 he was elected justice of the Supreme 
Court, and served on the Bench of that Court for the term of 16 years. 
In 1867 he was elected Comptroller of the State, and re-elected in 
1869. I'"^ 1870 he was elected an associate Judge of the Court of Ap- 
peals, which office he held at the time of his death. He discharged 
the duties of all the offices to which he was called with integrity and 
prereminent ability. He was an honor to the county and the State, 
and his death in 1878 was regarded as a public calamity. 

A half century ago there were at Fulton and Oswego Falls Joseph 
Easton, Oliver Burdick, George F. Falley, Jonathan Case, Barnet 
Mooney, Peter Schenck and Asa Phillips, all men of mark and who 
may properly be referred to in this connection. Mr. Easton came 
from Pittsfield, Mass., to the town of Volney, then Fredericksburgh, in 
1 8 10, and took up his residence in that part of the town which is now 
Fulton, where he continued to reside until his death in 1832. For a 
long time before his death he was quite an oracle in the neighborhood 
of his residence, and fifty years ago, he was one of the associate Judges 
of the Court of Common Pleas. 

Mr. Burdick was born in Stonington, Connecticut, and moved into 
the town of Volney, then Fredericksburgh, in 1810, and six or seven 
years later, located upon the west bank of the creek forming the easter- 
ly boundary of the village of Fulton, where he erected a saw mill and 
resided there until 1845, when he moved to the State of Michigan, and 
died there in 1863. Mr. Burdick was what would be called a "moder- 
ate man" but was a man of good judgment and strict integrity, and was 
highly respected by all of his acquaintances. He served his town as 
Supervisor seventeen years, and was at one time an associate Judge of 
the Court of Common Pleas. 

Mr. Falley was born in Westfield, Mass., but moved to the present 
location of Fulton in 1813 and died there in 1847. He was a merchant 
and wielded a good influence in the county. At one time he was pro- 
prietor of a considerable portion of the land constituting the village of 
Fulton. He was honored by his fellow citizens by many offices of 
trust, and a half century ago, he was the sole representative of the 
county in the Legislature of the State. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

Mr. Case moved into this county from Trenton, Oneida County, in 
1826, when the Oswego canal was in process of being built, and settled 
at Fulton. He had extensive contracts for the construction of the 
canal, and made considerable money. He was an excellent business 
man and estimable citizen. The Democrats elected him to the office 
of high sheriff in 1834, and he served most acceptably for the term of 
three years. He was the father of Hon. Geo. M. Case, late Member of 
Assembly, and present cashier of the Citizen's National Bank of 
Fulton. 

Mr. Mooney was by trade a hatter, and moved from Manlius, Ononda- 
ga county,in 1809 and settled in Hannibal, now Granby,on the river bank, 
just above the mouth of the outlet of Lake.Neatahwanta. There he kept 
a tavern for many years, principally for the accommodation of the boat- 
men at that early day navigating the Oswego river. He was a good 
scholar, and had an extensive library of books for that day, especially 
rich in the Roman and Greek classics. He was the first Member of 
Assembly elected from the locality constituting the county of Oswego, 
although it was before the county was set off, and he represented his 
county from the same locality in the Legislature in 1809, '10 '12 and 
'14 and he had been in the Legislature two terms before he moved 
from Manlius. In 1816 Oswego county was set off and he was appoint- 
ed its first Judge and served four years. He was considerable of a 
man and was much thought of by the early settlers of the county. 

Mr. Schenck was one of the prominent men of the county fifty years 
ago, and at that date he had few superiors for intelligence and shrewd- 
ness in the entire county. He emigrated to this county from New 
Jersey in 181 1 and at an early day took up his residence at Oswego 
Falls on the west side of the river. He became a surveyor and did a 
large business in that capacity in all the region about the Falls, and in 
Fulton. He served as clerk of the first town meeting held in Granby 
in 1818, and was chosen at that meeting as one of the six inspectors of 
common schools for the new town. He subsequently held several 
offices of trust in the town and county, the duties of which he discharg- 
ed faithfully and intelligently. He died in 1868, and his death was a 
real loss to the community. 

Mr. Phillips was born in Connecticut, but took up his residence in 
Granby, at Oswego Falls, near the cascade, in 1824, where was then a 
wilderness of considerable extent, with only one log house. Here he 
went to work erecting mills of various kinds, building dwellings for his 
men, manufacturing lumber, and laying the foundation for the pros- 
perous village that subsequently sprung up there. He led an exceed- 
ingly busy life and died at Oswego Falls in 1866, at the age of 72 
years. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 13 

Among the men of mark and influence in the county a half century 
ago, may also be mentioned Orris Hart, Andrew Place, Seth Severance 
and Norman Rowe — all then living in the town of New Haven. Mr. 
Hart came from Oneida county in 1815, and located at the little ham- 
let called Gay Head, where he opened a country store, which he con- 
tinued some fifteen years, when he moved to Oswego where he died in 

1855, at the age of 67 years. He served as an associate Judge of the 
Court of Common Pleas one or two terms ; as Surrogate under appoint- 
ment first in 1819, and again in 1845, as Member of Assembly two 
terms ; and fifty years ago he was serving as Superintendent of the 
Oswego canal, an office, at that time, of no inferior importance. He 
was also one of the delegates of the county in the convention of 1846 
to revise the Constitution. He was a gentleman of the old school and 
had a commanding influence in the county. 

Mr. Place came from Green County in this State and settled in New 
Haven in 1803. or thereabouts, and died there in 1852, at the age of 
65 years. He kept a tavern at different dates, and from his peculiar 
temperament made an extensive acquaintance. He was devoid of 
education or mental culture, but was a genius in his way, and a wit 
withal, and fifty years ago he wielded considerable influence in the 
county, and no man was more generally known by the inhabitants. 

Mr. Severance came from Leyden, Mass. about the year 1810 and 
settled at Butterfly, where he continued to reside until his death in 

1856. He was a farmer, and cleared up and worked a large tract of 
land, and was a man of strong mind and well cultivated intellect. 
Fifty years ago there were few men in the county more highly respect- 
ed or of more influence than Mr. Severance. He represented his town 
in the board of Supervisors twenty-two years, and probably no member 
was more potent than he. 

Mr. Rowe came from Paris, Oneida county, and settled in New 
Haven in 1817, where he still lives in the 85th year of his age, deserv- 
edly respected by his fellow townsmen for the long life of probity and 
usefulness which he has spent in their midst. Having a commanding 
address, and a shrewd mind, he early became a master spirit in the 
new county, and this characteristic he now retains in his extreme old 
age to a remarkable degree. He has been honored and trusted with 
most of the offices of his town, and has served the county as high sheriff 
two several terms, and in all the positions he has filled he has given un- 
qualified satisfaction. 

Among the notable men of the county residing in the old town of 
Mexico a half century ago, were Elias Brewster, Avery Skinner and 
Orville Robinson. Judge Brewster settled in the liitle hamlet after- 
ward Prattham, sometime prior to the year 1816, for I find that in 



14 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 



that year he served the town as Supervisor and he was re-elected in 
1 817. He was a bright and genial man, quite intellectual and well read, 
and was always active in enterprises calculated to elevate his fellow 
men, and advance the general interests of society. He was honored by 
his fellow townsmen with many positions of trust, including that of 
Supervisor several years and Justice of the Peace. He was also at one 
time County Treasurer, and in 1829 he was appointed associate Judge 
of the Cour. of Common Pleas of the county and served four years. — 
irie died at Prattham several years since in the enjoyment of an un- 
blemished reputation. 

Judge Skinner removed from Waterlown in the year 1823, and set- 
tled at ynion Square where he continued to reside until his death in 
1877. Perhaps there was no man in the entire county fifty years ago 
who had more influence than he. At that time he held the offices of 
Associate Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, County Treasurer and 
Post Master. Subsequently he represented his county in the Legisla- 
tive Assembly for two terms, and the Senatorial district of which Oswe- 
go County was a part, in the State Senate four years, and he made an 
honorable record in all these positions of trust. Mr. Robinson came 
from the county of Otsego, in 1827, and settled at Mexico Ville, and 
commenced the practice of law. A half century ago he was still a 
young man, but had already attained a respectable position at the bar. 
He continued his residence at Mexico until 1847, when he removed to 
the city of Oswego, where he is now living in retirement from active 
business, enjoying the evening of a long life, honored and respected 
by a large circle of acquaintances and friends. About fifty years ago 
Mr. Robinson was appointed Surrogate of the County and held the 
office eight years. He represented the county in the Legislature of the 
State at four different sessions and he acted as Speaker of the Assem- 
bly during the last term of his service. — He also served as District At- 
torney of the county several years, and one term as representative in 
Congress. Since his residence in Oswego he has served as Recorder of 
the city, and Collector of Customs for the district of Oswego, and in 
all his relations he has been faithful, and he has retired without a blot 
or stain upon his character. 

I should also name Leonard Ames a shrewd, genial and enterprising 
rnan, lAilher S. Conklin, the agent of (ieorge Parish, the great land- 
holder, Peter Pratt, in honor of whom the little hamlet of Prattham was 
called, and who served as high sheriff one year, Hiram Walker, a 
brother-in-law of Judge Skinner, and at one time County Treasurer, 
and at another County Superintendent of Poor, and the brothers John 
I\L and Alvin Richardson, both of whom have represented the county 
in the Legislature — all ])rominent and highly respected citizens of 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 15 

Mexico, a half century ago, and were an honor to their town. Messrs. 
Walker and Alvin Richardson, still survive, enjoying the respect of 
their fellow townsmen. 

Lovwell Johnson, late of Fulton, but who fifty years ago, lived in the 
town of Volney, now Palermo, was also a leading man in the county. He 
was an Attorney at law, and was then called the "old lawyer," although 
he was but about forty years of age. He came from Massachusetts 
and settled at Jennings Corners, in Palermo, in 1819, and carried on 
the business of farming in connection with his law practice until 1839, 
^when he moved to Fulton, and continued his residence there until his 
death in 1859. Judge Johnson was a man of superior judgment, a great 
reader, a safe counselor, and a successful business operator. Besides, 
he was a good citizen and neighbor, and was strictly honest and reliable 
in all the relations of life. By economy and prudence, and shrewd 
management, he accumulated a large property, which he bequeathed 
to his children and grand-children. He was fearless and outspoken in 
his intercourse with his fellow men, which occasionally gave momentary 
offense, but he was generally esteemed by those whose esteem was 
valuable. He often represented his town in the Board of Supervisors, 
and also held other local offices of trust, and he served one term as As- 
sociate Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of the county. He was 
the father of Hon. Willard Johnson, late Member of Assembly. 

Another of the notable men of Oswego County a half a century ago 
was Hastings Curtis, late of Hastings, in honor of whom the town was 
named in 1S25. He settled at the locality now known as Central 
Square, in 1820, coming from the county of Oneida. — He was a man of 
enterprise and did much for the development and improvement of that 
part of the county where he lived. He was popular among the masses 
of the people, and was upright in his dealings with his fellow men. He 
represented the county in the Legislative Assembly in 1824, having 
been elected within four years from the time he took up his residence 
in the county. He also represented his town several years in the Board 
of Supervisors, and fifty years ago he was High Sheriff of the County, 
and when he was elected Sheriff he was acting as one of the Associate 
Judges of the Court of Common Pleas. He died at Central Square, in 
1 83 1, where his funeral was largely attended, and he was buried with 
Masonic honors. 

Another of the notables in the south-eastern part of the county fifty 
years ago was George William Augustus Scriba, whose name was more 
generally known to the people of the county at that date, perhaps, than 
that of any other man within its precincts. Mr. Scriba was a native of 
Holland, born in the beautiful city of Rotterdam, but who in the latter 
part of the laiA century was a rich merchant of New York. In 1792, 



1 6 HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

he became the proprietor of the immense tract of land in the county of 
Oswego, then county of Herkimer, known as "Scriba's Patent," and in 
1801, he settled on the shore of Oneida Lake at what is now Constantia 
village, and where he lived until his death in 1836. Mr. Scriba ex- 
pended large sums of money in establishing roads, forming settlements 
and building mills and the like in the early part of the century, but, 
fifty years ago, he had lost his property and had retired to his house 
and garden in Constantia, where he remained in seclusion until his 
death. The county is indebted for much of its early prosperity to the 
enterprise of George Scriba, and it is meet that his name be kept in re> 
membrance by the town of Scriba in honor of whom it was named in 
181 1. 

Among the more prominent men in the north-eastern part of the 
county a half century ago were Robert Gillespie, Joseph Helme, Hiram 
Hubbell,, Mr. Gillespie was born in the north of Ireland, but emigra- 
ted with his parents to America when but eight years of age, and over 
seventy years ago, settled in the town of Richland, on Grind Stone 
Creek, at a point subsequently known as Gillespie's Mills. At that 
time the location where Pulaski is situated was called "Salmon River," 
and the road between Salmon River and Mr. Gillespie's place was 
traced only by marked trees. Mr. Gillespie became one of the solid 
men of the town, and I think, in 1829, was acting as Supervisor of his 
town and as County Superintendent of the Poor of the County. 

Mr. Helme was a lawyer by profession and the first I ever recognized 
as belonging to the legal fraternity. He then kept an office in Mexico, 
and had the field to himself though he had previously practiced in 
Oswego in company with the late Judge Turrill. A half century ago 
he lived in Pulaski and was acting as Surrogate of the county, and 
practising his profession, I think, in company with the late Andrew Z. 
McCarty. He left the county about forty years ago and settled in 
Illinois where he took a high position as a lawyer and I think was pro- 
moted to a Judgeship of one of the State courts. He died at the place 
of his late residence in the west but a few years since. 

Mr. Hubbell came from the eastern part of the State and settled at 
Pulaski, then called Salmon River, in 1818, less than two years after 
the county was organized. The most important interest at Pulaski at 
that date was catching salmon, large quantities of which were taken an- 
uually and sent over the country, and many of them found a ready 
market remote from the place where they were caught. I do not know 
that Mr. Hubbell ever engaged in the salmon fishing himself, although 
I have heard him speak of the interest he took in the trade. In 1822, 
Judge Hubbell was appointed County Clerk and served a term of three 
years. Fifty years ago he was elected Member of Assembly and served 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 17 

in the Legislature of 1830, and about that time he was appointed an 
Associate Judge of the Court of Common Pleas and served four years. 
He was also many years Post Master at Pulaski, and held the ofifice of 
Justice of the Peace and other offices of trust in the town, and in all 
the walks of life he proved himself a just and honorable man. Some 
few years ago he moved to the city of Oswego where he died in 1874. 

Mr. Williams moved from the State of Connecticut to the town of 
Williamstown, then Mexico, in 1801, and continued his residence there 
until his death in 1833. When the town was set off in 1804, it was 
named in his honor, and he was one of its most prominent and most 
honored citizens. He served 21 years on the Board of Supervisors — 
longer than any other man in the county. K^ was also Member of 
Assembly in the Legislature of 1816, and he also served one term as 
an Associate Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. 

I might mention other names which were prominently familiar in 
the county a half century ago, but the time placed at my command 
in this connection is already up, and those that I have referred to 
must suffice. The character of those which I have so imperfectly 
described, is sufficient to show that new as the county was at that 
period, she was not wanting in men of intelligence, and enterprise and 
real worth. Those holding the principal offices in the county a half 
century ago were Joel Turrill, First Judge, Avery Skinner of Mexico, 
John Reynolds of Orwell, Joseph Easton of Fulton, and Simon Meach- 
am of Richland, Associate Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, 
Joseph W. Helme, of Pulaski, Surrogate, David P. Brewsier of Oswego, 
District Attorney, Hastings Curtis of Hastings, Sheriff, '1 homas C. 
Baker of Pulaski, County Clerk, Avery Skinner of Mexico, County 
Treasurer, and George F. Falley of Fulton, Member of Assembly, all 
of whom, with perhaps a single exception, have gone to their eternal 
account. Few counties in the State could boast of offices better or 
abler filled, than this county fifty years ago, although the county had 
then been organized but thirteen years. And this must conclude what 
1 have to say of "Oswego county fifty years ago," 

In the narration which I have given 1 have made no attempt at 
oratory, for the orator must sink into the historian upon an occasion like 
this. It has been rather my purpose to make a dry statement from 
which may be seen at a glance what a wonderful change in the condi- 
tion of things has been made in this noble county within the brief 
space of fifty years. To-day the population of Oswego and Fulton ex- 
ceeds that of this entire county a half century ago. Now the popula- 
tion of the county reaches nearly or quite 80,000 against 27,000 at this 
period, and the entire face of the country has changed. Now the peo- 
ple inhabit comfortable dwellings of brick, stone and wood, many ot 



1 8 HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 



which arc truly magnificent if not pallatial, and scarcely a log house is 
to be found within the precincts of the county. Instead of the forests 
and rugged country of fifty years ago, we now have well cultivated 
lands and excellent roads, with railroads and telegraph wires in all di- 
rections and telegraph stations in all the prominent points of the coun- 
ty. Indeed, it will be seen by the contrast that the county has under- 
gone a complete metamorphosis within the period of fifty years, and all 
under the eye of many of us who are but just turned sixty, and because 
we have lived in the county fifty years are "old settlers." So that 
now we have one of the finest and richest agricultural and manufac- 
turing counties of the Empire State. 



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